Well, this Thursday 1/13 I’ve got that show in New York. It’s at Niagra Bar 112 Avenue A, at 7th St, in the East Village, right on Tompkins Square park, courtesy of the Antagonist Movement. Read about them, they’re doing good things.

Loyal readers (Trish, Mario, Susan, and Gary) will recall that I planned to take it easy this year. I’m trying. Really.

That’s what I’ve done so far this year. I like painting. I can’t really stop.

Here are the paintings in the show:

It’s easier to paint than write these posts, so I’ll guess at your questions and makes some notes for myself about the show:

• It’s a group show. No idea if there’s a theme.
• I’m showing three pieces, one existing (the tall one), two new (the ovals)
• I chose to make images that pick up where I left off from my April ’10 show
• I wanted to reconnect with my mission: For the women who view my paintings to recognize their own inner beauty
• Picking colors: I pick songs first and they tell me what colors to paint (i have synesthesia)
• I planned to do two paintings. One with colors I’m comfortable with and another with colors I haven’t used before. For the colors I haven’t used before, I chose orange and purple, thinking of the Invisibles). When I was done though, it didn’t seem “Cleff” enough for my debut (first? last? who knows?) show in NYC, so I decided to do a red and purple one. I also realized I wanted to make all three work as a set, so I made the image face to the right to compliment the left-facing blue one. I’ll put them on either side of the large painting
• They’re on canvas. I buy the canvases pre-stretched
• They’re done with watercolor. I have magic primer that lets me paint watercolor on anything
• I don’t remember exactly how large they are, they’re around 12″ x 16″. The large one is 2 feet by 4 feet
• First I drew the under-pictures on standard rectangular canvases then realized I wanted to use the oval canvases because it creates more powerful images
• I’ll probably go and paint the same images on those rectangular canvases too because I love these images and I want to try some looser painting
• While the images are based on pictures of models I worked with, these images aren’t meant to be portraits of specific people, they’re meant to represent aspects of feminine confidence
• I met the models through a site for models and photographers to network. For both models I spent about a year working to fit into their schedules
• The show is only up for one night
• I got the show through networking, responding to requests to show (submitting to one show and attending led to networking which led to submitting for another show. Thanks, Stacy Lynn!)

Feel free to ask me more questions, I usually only get them at shows, not online, but I’m happy to answer them.

Here’s a bonus, a closeup of the image I decided not to use for the show.

I did a few of these. Back in the day for LiveJournal profile pics.

Let me know if you’re interested in an avatar portrait. Send me a picture and I can have it to you within a week. $25. The image I send you will be 300 x 300 pixels at 72 dpi. If you’re interested in higher quality work, please let me know. You can contact me at steve @ fluidbeauty.com Remove the spaces to make it work. Or at Twitter, I’m @cleff.

I’m a big fan of bringing portraiture to the masses and I’m working on a project (targeting mid 2010 for the kickoff) of portraits of people I know. If you want in, let me know that, too. Only requirements are that we’ve met in person or spoken on the phone and you’ve got a good story to tell.

Highlights from the CNN story:

• The portrait, a centuries-old art form, is finding new life with the masses online
• Some people pay artists to paint their Facebook profile pictures and Twitter icons
• Free Web sites generate cartoon pictures of people for use in social media
• Researcher says portraits are necessary stand-ins for people online

I think it’s great what he does, though I don’t know that I agree with it. It makes me question what I think is an appropriate use of a celebrity’s image. It’s one of the reasons I’m glad I’m not famous because I don’t think I’d like being one of his subjects. These celebrities are used to represent ideas, but they are people. Who’s rights or needs are more important, the society that uses celebrities – like societies once used the Gods of Greek Myths – to explain/represent aspirations/fears, or the people who are being used in this way? I used to think it was society, but now I think it’s the people. I think you should have to volunteer to be an idea or an ideal.

Anyway, here’s this dude sculpting this chick:

It’s a study for the next painting I’m doing. I’m going to do weekly paintings again, too.